Proposed merger of nine regulators should focus on fairness and accountability, not cost-cutting, says Medical Protection Senior Medicolegal Adviser Dr Pallavi Bradshaw

This new workshop will provide you with a thorough understanding of the importance of medical records and aims to enhance your skills in making and keeping quality medical records.

Good medical records – whether electronic or handwritten – are essential for the continuity of care of your patients. They should be comprehensive enough to allow a colleague to carry on where you left off.

Patients overtly coerced into undergoing treatment they do not want can rightly claim that their “consent” was not given freely and is therefore not valid. Cases of overt coercion are rare, but there are circumstances in which patients may feel that they have been covertly pushed into accepting treatment they would prefer not to have had. For example, in some circumstances patients may find it very difficult to say “No” to the proposed treatment, or to challenge the doctor’s assumption that they would have no objections to going ahead.

It costs your practice nothing to set up a Practice Xtra group – it’s just a way of bringing all our GPs together into a single group while continuing to provide world-class defence, advice and support to them. You can choose from two levels of benefits to reward this cooperative approach. This level depends on how many GPs there are in your practice and how many are Medical Protection members.

Whether it’s a revised piece of GMC guidance, or a Bill going through the Scottish Parliament, we use our expertise to inform debates about changes that could affect your practice.

Your eligibility for assistance You must be a member of MPS at the time of the event in order to be entitled to request assistance. The event must not predate the point you joined or rejoined MPS. You must have paid the correct subscription rate and abide by the terms of membership, as laid out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association and associated guidance documents, and it is important to be aware of them. You must inform us if the scope of your practice changes. Withholding information or providing false or misleading answers is likely to adversely affect entitlement to the benefits of membership and, in certain circumstances, membership may be terminated.

Members call the Medical Protection advice line about a wide range of issues. Our useful infographic reveals what you have been calling us about, and how often.

In this series we explore the key risk areas in general practice

Dr Michael Rayment and Dr Ann Sullivan, Department of Sexual Health and HIV Medicine, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust (on behalf of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, and the British HIV Association).

MPS has seen a steady rise in the number of claims involving practice nurses, with ‘delay in diagnosis’ being the most common type of claim. Kate Taylor, Clinical Risk Manager, MPS Educational Services, reveals more

If you are a Practice Xtra member with gold level benefits, you can subscribe to Croner-i Professional Practice Manager online information service, an essential time-saving resource for busy practice managers.

Sessional GP and MPS medicolegal consultant Dr Rachel Birch shares a case scenario about a patient who stalked her GP

Medical Protection provides expert support, advice and defence at every step of your career – supported locally by a dedicated team based in our Edinburgh office.

A common question in general practice: “Ms P’s fit note runs out on Monday – can you do her another one?” Your answer should be considered carefully as the following case illustrates, explains Dr Rachel Birch, GP and medicolegal adviser at MPS

Dr Neil Bacon, founder of www.iwantgreatcare.org, discusses how to maximise the potential of patient feedback.

Over half of respondents to an MPS survey admitted to regret over their failure to raise concerns in the workplace. Gareth Gillespie looks at how obstacles to whistleblowing can be overcome.

Unemployment reduces wellbeing. Recession raises the demands on healthcare systems and makes it harder to pay for them. Doctors worldwide are having to adapt and change to cope with these additional pressures, says Sarah Whitehouse

Complaints to the regulator against doctors have hit a record high, rising more sharply than for any other health professional. Is this down to poor practice or a changing complaints culture? Sara Williams investigates

Consent is a fundamental principle of medical law. The basic rule is simple: no-one has the right to touch anyone else without lawful excuse and if doctors do so it may well undermine patients’ trust.

I wake up bolt upright at 5.30am. I look in the mirror and realise I’ve inadvertently left my false eyelashes on from the previous day’s telly. They hang rather precariously from my upper lids – my mascara is half way down my cheeks and my hair is doing a good impersonation of Jedward. My husband rolls over and states that I look like a drag queen and promptly falls back to sleep.